Slushy, wet weekend expected

Connecticut Post

Staff reports

Updated 1:11 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2013

Anthony Batista, 16, comes down hard with a shovel to loosen the snow he is clearing from a sidewalk on Henry Street in Danbury, Conn. Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. A blizzard Friday into Saturday morning dumped almost 2 feet of snow on the Danbury area.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

From left, firefighters Sean McGowan and Adam Horosky and Lt. Bart McCleary of the Danbury Fire Department, clear fire hydrants along Main Street in Danbury, Conn. Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 buried by snow. A blizzard dumped almost two feet of snow on the Danbury area Friday and saturday.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

The storm this weekend won't look anything like the blizzard that struck the area two weeks ago, but it will still be a mess.

The low pressure system that is likely to form will mostly be a "rain event,'' WTNH meteorologist Gil Simmons said at midday Thursday with little or no snow accumulation expected along the shore.

Exactly where the rain-snow line will fall is difficult to say this far out, but Simmons said all but the extreme northwest and northeast corners of the state can expect 2 to 4 inches of new snow from this storm, mixed with sleet at times.

Those northern areas and southern Massachusetts are likely to get much more than that.

"This shouldn't cancel anyone's weekend plans, unless you don't like driving on slush,'' the forecaster said. "But that is a worst-case scenario.'' The heaviest precipitation will fall on Sunday morning, he said.

The National Weather Service says a strengthening coastal low is expected to smack the area Saturday through Sunday "with widespread precipitation."

"There is a possibility of significant snowfall accumulations across far interior zones," the NWS says, with a wintry mix along the shore.

AccuWeather says "if the storm develops to its full potential, portions of central New England could be on the receiving end of a foot or more of wet snow with strong wind and colder air being drawn into the storm." It's likely that ski resorts in northern New York and from mid to upper New England could get more than a foot of snow.

Forecasters say it's still too early to forecast the exact start of the storm, its magnitude and what Connecticut could get.

Today there will be increasing clouds, with a high near 29. It will be blustery, with a northwest wind 9 to 14 mph amping up to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low around 19. The wind will still be blowing from the north between 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.